Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt. Ltd. (SMIPL) reports August 2020 sales at 57,909 units
Sales fell from 71,631 (Domestic + Exports) vehicles sold in August 2019. August 2020 domestic sales is reported at 53,142 units, and exports at 4,767 units. Total sales decline is reported at 19.15 percent. MoM growth is reported at 46 in August 2020 sales over July 2020, when 31,421 vehicles were sold, and 2,991 units exported.
FY21 YTD sales slowdown
Business at SMIPL is in strict adherence to extensive SOPs outlined to address the Covid-19 pandemic situation to ensure safety for dealer staff and customers. With lockdown relaxation, doing business has become easier than in May 2020, and that reflects in overall reporting of MoM sales by most manufacturers. Top selling Suzuki two wheelers in India are Access, Burgman, Intruder and Gixxer.
Speaking about products, Suzuki has launched a new colour option for the Burgman scooter today. In official speak, it is called Pearl Suzuki Medium Blue No. 2. It is available at a price of Rs 79,700, ex-sh. Other colours on offer with Burgman are – Metallic Mat Fibroin Gray, Pearl Mirage White, Metallic Matte Black No. 2 and Metallic Matte Bordeaux Red. Below is sales table of Suzuki India for Aug 2020.
While lockdown has has created certain bumps that manufacturers now need to tide over, the auto market had been struggling even prior to lockdown. However, at the time Suzuki Mototorcyle India was able to report MOM growth even when others were struggling with sales growth, eventually equating to 5.7 percent growth in the last fiscal.
A feat, that’ll be difficult to better seeing FY21 YTD sales. Previously, the company had announced a target of one million units annual sales by 2020. Despite all efforts, general market slowdown was going to make the task a difficult one, but with Covid-19 pandemic related lockdown and economic slowdown, he task is now an impossible ask.
Suzuki operates a doorstep sales and service platform, which allows customers to book requirements as per convenience. SMIPL is confident that the upcoming festive season will bring in more positivity in the auto industry. For now, Suzuki’s inroad into the Indian two wheeler market sees its scooters do better than its motorcycles, contributing the king’s share of its domestic sales.
With resumption of business, SMIPL has also announced price hike across a range of its products in recent weeks. With BSVI a mandate since April 1, 2020, plans had to be put on hold at the time owing to lockdown. As business restarted, Suzuki Gixxer BS6 variants were launched in May 2020.
Koichiro Hirao, Managing Director, Suzuki Motorcycle India Pvt Ltd. said, “This double digit sequential growth of more than 46% has been made possible with the continuous efforts and hard work of our dealerships.”
Suzuki recall
At the end of July 2020, SMIPL announced a recall of 612 scooters. This included BSIV Burgman and Access 125 units manufactured between July 2019 and October 2019. Potential defect was listed as Crankshaft R taper angle being not matched properly owing to a programming error in production line 4. The error meant less contact in generator rotor, wherein cyclic loads may cause fatigue failure of Crankshaft resulting in engine stoppage.
Globally, Suzuki’s middleweight parallel-twin engine patent filing that is now accessible points to a lighter and cleaner, naturally aspirated engine that will power 650cc bikes. In India, they are getting ready to launch the BS6 V-Strom.
